Rum and brandy Soaked Dried Fruits!

Dried fruits soaked in rum and cherry brandy...YUM!!!! I opened the lid to take a pic of the fruits and the smell was HEAVENLY!!!!

Yes, it's that time of the year again. Last year I made Christmas cakes and the cakes earned me brownie points with hubby and my friend, Joanne also said it was nice. I brought some home for my family and my mum and sister enjoyed it too and told me to make it again this year.

Here's a pic of my decorated christmas cakes last year. I had so much fun playing with the icing.



So here I am, soaking the fruits in preparation to make them moist and plump. I think the secret to a moist Christmas or any fruit cakes is to plump up the dried fruits first.

Well, I'm using a new recipe this year because I can't remember what I did last year and I can't remember which recipes I mixed and matched from. So this year, I will write it down! I Promise! (at this point, I should write down how much and what dried fruits I used!)

Will let you know how it goes!!!! Fingers crossed!

Time flies...

Wow! I was just going through the Bookmarks on my pc when I was trying to free up more space on and I found an old blog that a friend had.  That made me realised that maybe it's time for an update on my own blog.

Let's see...we went to Rhodes end of May for our holiday and I love Rhodes!!!! Love the blue of the water...love the food especially the fried shrimps and souvlaki!!! love the islands! love everything!!!  I shall write about Rhodes in another blog.

After that was the week at Joanne's place after she and the kids visited us. We went to Barley Hall and Jorvik Centre....hmm...should probably blog about that too. Oh we went to Manchester Chinatown...too bad it was raining and I was too busy trying to stay dry and forgot about taking pics!..wait!!! not that, my phone died because I forgot to turn the gps off after we found the way to Chinatown!

On the home front, still struggling to finish my curtains course.  Pencil Pleats and sewing on curtain tapes is on the assignment this month. Am still enjoying it. The last assignment with measurement windows was not my fav, especially when you live in an apartment with really high Georgian Sash Windows. killer to measure when you don't have a ladder.  I doubt I will reach the ceiling on a ladder anyways.  Good thing Joanne was on hand to help. Needless to say, I did cheat with the measurements a bit...hopefully i will still pass my assignment. fingers crossed!!!!

So many projects to do after i finish with this assignment...felt flower cushions for Victoria, Zippered Cushions for Joanne, Registration dress and wedding dress for Sylvia, 2 dresses for Nana....not to mention I should probably make some new items for my website!...

Busy Busy Busy!!!  oh well...back to work...laters!!!!

New Metal Frame Purse

I love my new metal frame purse. The metal frame which came with the magazine I bought was a sew on one so it was quite a nightmare to sew. I nearly broke my needle cos some of the holes were out of shape but here it is in the end, my beautiful new purse. The pics don't do justice to the lovely green daisy gingham fabric or the lemony polka dots though.

Looking at the purse just makes me smile! :-)

Home Furnishing Fever

My beautiful felt cushion covers!!!

I have painstakingly and patiently hand sewn every petal and they are more than 200 petals on each flower. I am so proud of these. I have so many pricks from making these that I don't think I can give all my finger prints at the moment because of the pricks...hehe but are soooo worth it!  I love them!

I found a pattern online that I adapted to use on my cushions because I wanted more petals on mine.

New Summer Bag

My new summer bag!!!! I think it's gorgeous although it could be prettier. Every piece of lace was hand stitched. The pattern was made up as I went. Hehe. My fingers were sore from sewing the lace on. But I like it.

Spring flowering trees

Spring is here! Nothing like gorgeous flowers to cheer one up!

March Madness

Wow!! It's almost end of March already! Time really flies when you're busy and March has been quite a month!

In my last post, I mentioned that I was starting a new curtain course. I have just sent off my first assignment yesterday. Yippee!!!!



I have so far learnt or realised that there are so many kinds of curtain styles and fabric out there. Before this even though I liked fabric, I have never really looked at the curtains. Now, everywhere I go, I look at the windows and I look at the window treatments to see what has been done and how I can change it. I have also found the styles I like and ones that are unusual, etc.

So anyways, for the first assignment, I was supposed to do a customer sample board for a window treatment - style, which room, fabric, etc. this is what I came up up.


I realised that I prefer more dramatic curtains as in the pic above. It has a sheer roman blind and a dress curtain. Dress curtains are just for show rather than practicality. And the fabric I chose for this is just gorgeous!!! One day, when I have my own house, I will make dramatic curtains...for my study maybe....hehe...hubby prefers plain roman blinds...borinnggggg! Hehe

I had another idea drawn and colored but I shall leave that for the next post.... Hehe whenever that may be...

Curtains, anyone???

Diploma in Professional Curtain Making and Soft Furnishing

Boy oh boy!!! Haha...I have enrolled myself in a course to make curtains and cushion covers!!!! Haha...I have been thinking about going back to studying and was looking for things to study or new skills to learn. On the short list were Accounting, silversmithing, interior design, marketing and curtain making. It took me a week to decide on curtain making.

Why? Well, I've always wanted to sew curtains for some reason. Hehe...I mean I've made dresses, cushion covers, even a coat...but I have never had any excuse to make curtains. The way I see it...it isn't hard to sew curtains per se.... The hard bit is calculating how much fabric you need. That is beyond me I think.

But why go for a course when these days, you can DIY everything under the sun? Ahhhh...to me, the challenge is to make DIY look professional. Although handmade is in at the moment, it wouldn't hurt to have something you've made look professional.

We'll see. I'll keep you updated! :-)